Voxel Board
A voxel board is a player made "tool" of sorts, that saves significant time when building on a claim. It is built first using regular building tools and some of the advanced building techniques. Uses Rather than building unique shapes over and over, these boards are created and kept nearby when building. By using the Selection Tool, smaller unique shapes can be copied and pasted to experiment further or to achieve advanced building techniques with greater efficiency. Many boards also include small "samples" of all of the materials and textures available in Landmark, so it is easy to use the Eyedropper Tool to switch building materials very quickly. There are many types of boards, some with specific purposes, and new boards are created all of the time. Finding a voxel board at a template swap or making your own is one of the easiest ways to accelerate learning, because the more you work with the shapes found on the boards, the faster (most) people understand and can apply advanced building techniques to their own work. Creating a Board Anyone can create a board of their own by isolating shapes they have made with various techniques using the building tools. The best way to do this is to experiment and try to create shapes like Micro-Voxels and more, use the Selection Tool to isolate the small bits of your experiment when you are satisfied with the results, and add them to your own board. There is really no right or wrong way to make your own board as long as you use a organizational method that you can remember. Just make sure to test the pieces you add to your board to make sure they work as you expect. Don't forget to save your board as a template with a name that helps you remember what you will use it for later in case you delete your claim or want to update the board again later. Tips and Tricks *If you're making a brand new board of your own, dirt is typically the best material for the background. Using tundra dirt (nearly black) as the background of the board and stucco (a white dirt) for the shapes makes the shapes easy to see while working. *You can add small cubes near the top to sample materials by color. :*Some devote voxel boards to having every color and every texture that can be used to a single board (without other shapes). *Some building techniques require the use of "healed earth" (created using the Heal Tool) and because of this, most players who keep a voxel board out at all times create an "lab" space (workshop) underground. The underground lab is a great place to keep your voxel board out and ready to use any time you're in the mood to build. Creating and using voxel boards is often easier after you've seen other players working with them. Many players who stream live on Twitch are happy to teach techniques for making these boards in addition to showing their uses. You can also look for videos on YouTube. Check the forums for building classes hosted by players in-game too. Template Swaps A "swap" is any player owned claim that is dedicated to trading pre-built objects of all kinds (stairs, windows, parts of castles, etc.), including voxel boards. Some may have specific themes (eg. Kerra, sci-fi, furniture, etc.), but most have at least a few voxel boards. *Most swap owners place signs with with the word "Template" or "Swap" alone or in the name of the claim. You can usually find them listed in the Gallery by using either of those words in the Gallery's search feature. *As of Dec. 2014, swap owners can now use permissions setting on their claims to allow the general public to copy everything on a claim or set that access only for trusted friends. Prior to Dec. 17, 2014, claims with Open Access were sometimes "griefed" and unsavory players would destroy those claims and steal the materials. See access settings for more information. Boards copied at swaps will have voxel ownership assigned to the player who made them. You can either use them "as is" if you don not plan to sell your own creations on the through the Players Studio or rework the board so you own the voxels. See the video in the demonstration section on how this can be done. :Warning: if you see a voxel board for sale in through the Players Studio, do not buy them. You can place entire templates from the Player Showcase and you can repaint them, but you can not use parts from them using the selection tool. This means voxel boards from Player Studio are useless. When Player Studio launched some player-artists that created an listed boards for sale did not realize this was the case. Using a Board There are many types of boards and many techniques, but the basic processes can be summed up as: Using Shapes: To use the board, simply enclose any shape you want to use with the Selection Tool. Press CTRL + C to copy it and CTRL + V to paste it. How you place the shape and use it in building is up to you. Using Colors and Textures: Place your mouse over any material on the board you want to use with the Add Tool activated. Hold down Alt and L click. A "ray of light" will appear and you will see the new material is now selected in the Materials Tray. Continue building with the regular building tools or using the voxel board to pick up shapes again. The Future of Voxel Boards? Because they are player-made, new boards are created all the time, as people discover new techniques. Over time, many variations of the boards have been created both for private use and to share in the community. *As the game develops and the regular building tools are refined and if new shapes are added to the game by the company, some techniques and boards become obsolete. On the other hand, the same changes often lead to brand new boards after players discover brand new techniques. *Smaller, player-made "tools" that serve a similar purpose turn up at swaps all the time. For example, "voxel reactors," can be used to quickly change the shape of other player-built objects. *On Dec. 4th, 2014 a set of Starter Templates was added for all players. Though these differ somewhat from voxel boards, they will be useful for experimentation for new builders. To find then press T to open your Template library and type "starter" in the search field. You'll find a set of triangles, arches, 3 fonts, angled "lines" and more. Video Demonstration *To see a video demonstrating how to make your own voxel board (using community-donated boards), see Khandro's tutorial on Twitch Category:Building Category:Gameplay